The blog of Richard Thompson, caricaturist, creator of "Cul de Sac," and winner of the 2011 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Final Olberman

Here's the final color Keith Olberman that appears in the New Yorker this week. It's the third sketch put on a lightbox and transferred to Arches 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper, stretched on a board (that's the fun part because I get to dunk it in the kitchen sink) and watercolored (but not over-watercolored). I think it came out fine, though the microphone doesn't stand out enough from his stripey shirt. But if you want to see somebody who knows how to do this more deftly and with more interesting color, go look up John Cuneo and Barry Blitt. And please rush out now and buy a copy of the New Yorker, and one for your father, too.

I'm going to add "nib" to my list of words that are difficult to say while maintaining one's masculinity. A few others: "wince", "serendipity" and "lollygag". Please post any others I may have omitted.

Thanks, I think it looked just fine, except the microphone kinda blended with his shirt. Picky picky picky.

I use a bunch of nibs, mostly a Hunt Imperial because it's springy, and the little hole looks like a fleur-de-lys which is cool. (go to google images and look up Hunt Imperial Nib and you get a post on this blog from last October by golly)

Mike, I'd add the word "twee" which irritates me but is useful because it sounds like what it describes. "Nib" always sounds like it's short for something, like "nibben" or "nibbodulent", and it's hard to use in spoken conversation. Saying "pen nib" is no help, and "dip pen" is even worse.

Re Barry Blitt, he's been doing lovely drawings for Frank Rich's column in the Sunday New York Times. I just love to read Rich's fulminations. Anyone ever read anything about Blitt or an interview with him? I don't think I've seen one.

And for the record, I have much issue with the word "croissant". Something about that word can turn a regular, blue-collar Joe into exaggerated version of Inspector Clouseau.IE: Hey Stevie, you wanna doughnut?